Falling Apart: Secrets
by Catalina H
Summary: After a startling event, it seems like everyone's secrets are being revealed... part 2 of 2 SEQUEL to: So...Where Do We Go From Here . disclaimer: i don't own numb3rs. NEXT IN SERIES -IN PROGRESS-
1. Chapter 1

Falling Apart: Secrets

Chapter 1

It had been two months since Don had been arrested, and things were awkward to say the least. The twins were living in the craftsman with Charlie and Alan. Alex was concentrating on school and track, and was spending a lot of time with Charlie. Ande was doing anything that would keep her out of the house as much as possible, and visiting Don at least once a week after school. Charlie was either focusing on his teaching, or he and Alex were working on some project. Alan was struggling with trying to raise the twins and keeping the family together, despite missing one member. The one thing they were all doing was not talking about what happened. Ande was the only one who even visited Don, though Alex was starting to have her pass along messages.

Dinner one night was the same as it had been for the past couple months. They were all there just like every other night. Charlie, Amita, and Larry were talking some complicated math/physics stuff. Ande and Alex were unusually quiet, occasionally looking at each other. Today had been her visit with Don, Alex wanted to talk about it, but they both knew that they shouldn't bring up around everyone else. Alan suspected they were thinking about their father, so he decided to bring up something else.

"How's school going you two?," Alan asked the twins.

"Fine," they both said, both shrugging, and continuing to pick at their food.

"Anything interesting going on?"

"Nope," they both said, both shaking their heads, and continuing to pick their food. Alan noticed they weren't going to talk, so he let it go. The rest of the dinner finished in silence.

After dinner, Alex was finally able to talk to his sister. When he went in the room, she had the window open to get rid of the smoke from her cigarette, and he could tell she wasn't in a good mood. She looked over at him when she heard him shut the door. He half smiled at him, and she nodded in return.

"So are we gonna talk about it?," he asked as he walked over by her.

"About what?" He scowled at her, and she smiled back. "I'm just kidding. So what did you wanna know?"

"Well, how is he?" She looked down when he asked.

"How do you think?," she asked him sarcastically.

"D-Did he ask about me?," he stuttered out. She looked at him, saw the sorrow in his eyes. She put out her cigarette, grabbed his arm, and pulled him over and sat him on the bed.

She looked straight in his eyes as she told him what he wanted to know. "He always asks about you," she told him. "He always asks about you, Charlie, Alan, everyone." He half smiled, pleased about this, but then turned sorrowful again.

"Do you really think he murdered the guy?" This question caught Ande off guard.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well he said he killed him, but he never said anything about meaning to kill him," Alex tried to explain. Ande looked down, and Alex had his answer. "So, when are you going next?," he asked, changing the subject back.

"Probably Monday," she told him, looking back up at her brother.

"Do y-you th-think t-that m-maybe...," he was stuttering, but Ande knew what he was asking.

"Yes," she answered before he finished. He looked at her, thankful she didn't make him squirm anymore. She smiled. "He'll be happy to see you." Alex smiled at this, then got up to leave.

The next day at school Alex came up to Ande at her locker. She was putting her books in it. She could tell he was there, so she just dove right in.

"What do you want?," she asked bluntly, trying not to get another detention for being late.

"I changed my mind," he told her, looking everywhere but at her. She knew what he was talking about though.

"Oh come on Al! You're just scared." He looked shocked by her tone, and her insight. "You just think he's gonna be mad at you." Alex opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn't, so she continued. "Well, he's not! He knows why you were mad, and he knows you're upset. Now, stop being such a baby!" He knew she was right, so he couldn't object to what she was saying. The bell rang, and they both started heading to class, but Ande turned around and caught up with Alex.

"Hey, you think you can cover for me tonight? Mike and I are going out later."

He smiled. "Always."

"Thanks." She smiled back.

After she left school Ande went over to Mike's. They were curled up on the couch watching TV. She thought he'd been acting kind of weird, so she decided to confront him.

"OK, what's going on?," she asked looking up at him.

He sighed. "I'm being deployed again." She looked down, and waited a few minutes before responding.

"When?" She was staring at the TV to avoid eye contact.

"End of next week," he said, looking down at her now. She searched his eyes, looking for something, but wasn't sure what.

"How long?"

He paused for a minute. "Two years."

"Two years?! Damn it, Mike!" She got up off the couch, stood in front of him, and stared down at him. He looked up at her. "You know what's being going on. You know what I've been through. Now you're telling me that you're gonna leave me too!" He got up and walked over to her. She hesitated, but let him hug her.

"I know, sweetie. Look, if I had any way of getting out of it or delaying it, I would. I know what you've been through. I know this is a rough time for you, but you're gonna be fine," he whispered in her ear. She was trying to control her emotions, he could tell. He hugged her tighter.

About an hour later they were curled up on the couch after they had made pretty good use of it, so to speak. They wanted to make the best out of the rest of their time together, and that meant trying to spend as much time as they could together. He looked down at her and kissed her lightly. It was getting late and he knew she'd have to leave soon.

"Want to go get some dinner?," he asked her. "I know a place." She smiled.

"Sure."

Back at the craftsman, Alan was trying to get Alex to tell him where Ande was at. He was getting nowhere. All Alex would tell him was that she was with a friend. Alan knew she was with the 21 year old marine, which made him furious. He didn't like the idea of his 17 year old granddaughter dating a jarhead. He finally gave up on getting any information out of Alex, who went on to bed afterwards. Alan stayed up past midnight waiting for Ande, who finally got back at almost one.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?? ARE YOU TRYING TO WORRY ME TO DEATH?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She had just closed the door behind her when he started yelling.

"I was out. I'm fine," she answered him calmly. She headed for the stairs when he stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going? We're not done here. Sit down." He pointed to the couch. She sighed, but went over and sat down. He paused, trying to do this as calmly as he could. "Why are you doing this? You just think that when things don't go right you can just do whatever you want because you feel like it?" This was pissing her off, it reminded her of her mother.

"You're not my father, just because he's not here doesn't mean you can start acting like you are." He looked away and took a deep breath, she'd hit a nerve and she knew it. "Now, I'm going to bed so I won't be late for school. You got a problem with that?"

When he didn't say anything, she went upstairs and went to bed. She woke up three hours later in a cold sweat, another nightmare. Alex calmed her down, but she wasn't able to go back to sleep. She'd been having the same nightmare since she was 13. Except, for the past couple months it had changed a little. Tonight it was back to the old one, no doubt triggered by memories of her mother.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Monday after school Ande and Alex went to the prison to visit Don, even though Alex was still a little antsy about it. Unfortunately for Alex, Ande wasn't letting him out of it that easy. When Don saw both of them, he was definitely shocked, but he tried to hide it.

"Hey," he said, trying to hide his surprise at seeing Alex.

"Hey," Alex said, trying not to stutter. He wasn't very successful in his attempts to not be nervous.

"How are you?"

"Fine." Alex's eyes were darting everywhere, looking at anyone or anything other than his sister or father. "I-I'-"

"Don't worry about it." Don knew what he was going to say, but it didn't matter. He was just happy to see his son for the first time in over two months. Alex smiled, but Don could tell he was still acting a little unsure. "It's OK, you know." Don grabbed Alex's hand so he'd look at him.

"What?," Alex asked, confused.

"I didn't want either of you to have to go through this. I'm sorry." Don looked down. Ande and Alex looked at each other, neither knew what to say. Alex couldn't handle himself anymore.

"I gotta go," Alex told them, and got up and left. Ande and Don both sighed.

"He'll be fine. He just needs time," Ande told Don, seeing the worried look on his face.

"Yeah. I never expected this to be easy." He looked back down.

"Then what did you expect?," Ande asked him bluntly, but saw the look on his face. "Never mind."She looked away, he could tell something was off.

"You okay?," he asked her.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"You just seem a little distracted." She was trying to avoid looking him in they eye. She had been trying for months to keep him in the dark about the nightmares. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Enough. Look I'm fine. Things are still just a little weird."

"A little?," he asked skeptically, but realized something was up. "What happened?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She smiled, squeezed his hand, and got up. "I should get going. See ya later."

"See ya," he said, smiling back. She was a mystery.

Ande and Alex stopped by the park on their way back to the craftsman. They sat down on the bench. Alex was unusually quiet, and Ande knew he was just thinking. She put her arms around him, trying to comfort him as much as possible.

"You know I'm going to always look out for you, right?" They stared at each other for a couple minutes before he could respond.

"Then what is it you're not telling me?," he asked her.

"What are you talking about?" She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about. She'd known she wouldn't be able to keep this secret from her brother for very long, she was surprised at how long it had been already.

"You're right, so what exactly is it that you found out about that Don doesn't want you to tell anyone?," he shot back sarcastically. She sighed.

"Look, can you just trust me on this one?"

"Why? We finally had a family again and now another secret is tearing it apart? Are we ever going to get normal lives?" Alex was on the verge of crying, Ande knew how badly he wanted a normal family.

"Hey, look at me," she told him, forcing him to look at her. "This isn't the same thing and you know it. What's happening now is only going to be temporary." She was trying to comfort her brother, but also trying to force memories, ones she was trying desperately to forget, out of her mind.

"Promise me this will be over soon," Alex pleaded with his sister. When she was quiet he kept at it, seeing she wanted to. "Ande Jade Trellus, promise me!" She took a deep breath, knowing he wouldn't be able to take much more.

"Look, I want this to be over as much as you do!" She stared at her brother so he would know she really meant it, that she wasn't lying. "But I'm not going to make you a promise that I'm not sure of, but I will promise you that this is going to end, maybe not soon, but it will end!"

A couple days after the twins visit with Don, Alan was noticing their moods had changed drastically. Alex had been a lot quieter than usual, and Ande seemed to be in a downward spiral. When she didn't come after practice and Alex wouldn't say where she was, Alan checked her room and found an ashtray full of cigarette buds. He confronted Alex and he still wouldn't say anything. Alan was starting to worry, about both of them.

It was after midnight when Megan and David were getting ready to leave the office for the night, while Colby still had some paper work to finish. He was filing his last report for the night when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?," he answered.

"Colby?"

"Ande? What's up?," he asked, surprised to hear from her this late.

"You think you could come pick me up?"

"Sure, where are you? You sound a little different." He had a look of surprise when she answered. "OK, I'll be there in ten minutes."

When Colby got there he went over to the desk and asked for Ande. After the guy sent for her, he turned back to Colby.

"What does a FBI agent want with some drunk teenager?"

"She's a friends' daughter. How drunk was she?," Colby replied, wondering how Don was going to take this news.

"Way above the legal limit, but she wasn't acting very drunk. She must have a high tolerance or something," he shrugged. Colby silently laughed at that, but just then one of the officers brought Ande out.

She was signed out, given her things, and then she and Colby walked silently to his car. He drove her back to the craftsman, they were silent until they reached the driveway. He parked and shut the engine off before he said anything.

"Lights are still on. Either Charlie's doing some weird math thing, or him and Alan are waiting up for you," he said.

"Probably just Alan. Although Charlie's probably working on some weird math thing too," she replied, staring at the house and taking a deep breath. He looked over at her.

"You wanna tell me what happened tonight?"

"Nothing, I just went to a party that got a little out of hand, and the cops came." Colby looked over at her, he sighed, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Look, I know I'm not your dad. I respect the hell out of him. Which is why I'm saying and doing this now." Ande just stared at him. "I know this is tough, but I think something is going with this whole thing. I think Don's working on some undercover assignment that only him and a few people with high enough clearance know about."

"Why?," she asked him. She knew he was right, but wasn't sure how he'd figured it out.

"I was a triple agent for over two years, and I know Don pretty well." When she didn't say anything, he put two and two together. "You know don't you?" She nodded. "You have any proof?"

"Why? What difference would that make?," she asked.

"Because if I have proof, then I may be able to speed up the process and get him home sooner."

"You promise?" She wanted to make sure he wasn't playing some kind of trick on him to get her to hand over the file she'd copied, without Don knowing of course.

"I promise."

"Let me think about it."

"Fair enough." They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Colby finally broke the silence. "You want me to go in with you?," he asked, motioning to the house.

"No. It might make it a little more difficult," she sighed.

"Good point," he laughed, but then turned serious. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" When she looked down, he continued. "I'm not gonna bust you for knowing. I just want to help."

"See ya tomorrow, Colby," she said, getting out of the car.

"Count on it. Try to stay out of trouble." He smiled, she just half-laughed and walked to the house.

When she got inside and shut the door, she turned around to find Alan standing there staring at her.

"Sorry," she muttered sarcastically before walking around him to go upstairs.

"Have you been drinking?," he asked her, able to smell the alcohol on her breath.

"What's it to you?" She wasn't in the mood for this, and she let it show. She took off up the stairs.

"This isn't the end of this subject!," he yelled after her. He knew it was useless to talk any sense into her when she was in this mood. Don had this mood too, usually after a rough case, but Alan didn't want to think about his eldest son. Shaking his head, he headed to the kitchen for a snack.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Alan really didn't want to do this, but he knew that he needed to do something. He'd seen how the twins had acted after their visit with their father, which is why he hated doing this now. He hadn't talked to his older son, let alone seen him, since his arrest. Even before Alan knew he'd given Don a hard time about his methods of parenting, but at least Ande and Alex had responded to it. They had barely been speaking to Alan lately, so they definitely weren't going to let him parent them. He needed help, and he couldn't think of anywhere else to look.

Don was more surprised to see his father come visit him than he had been when Alex had come. He knew he had to be careful, his father had never approved of him as a parent, and he certainly didn't approve of where he was and how he'd gotten there.

"Dad? Is everything OK?," Don asked his father skeptically.

"No. Everything is not OK." Don was worried now. "Your brother is always at CalSci or in the garage, Alex is withdrawn, and Ande is out of control. So, no everything is not OK!" Don just stared at his father, unsure of what to say. "Now, I'm sure you're aware of how I feel about the predicament you've put all of us in." Don started to say something, but Alan spoke first, holding his hand up to stop Don from saying anything. "No, no now let me finish. I'm definitely not happy about it, but I'm at my wit's end with Ande and Alex. Alex hardly talks to anyone other than Ande, and other than that he just hangs out with Charlie and neither one of them says anything. Ande is out of control, and other than Alex you seem to be the only one she talks to. Now, I know I said I didn't agree with your parenting methods, but they seemed to respond to them. So, I need to know how to get through to them," Alan said, finally sitting down, waiting for his son to reply. Don just stared at him for a few minutes before he pulled himself together.

"Look, dad I know this isn't the ideal situation. Trust me, if I could be there instead I would. The fact is, though, I can't be there, and I'm sorry this got dumped on you," Don told Alan, trying to make him believe it. When Alan didn't say anything, Don took a deep breath and continued. "OK, Alex is still processing. It takes him a while to open up to anyone other than Ande, and even longer with something like this. Just give him time and he'll come around. Ande, on the other hand, well...she's Ande. She's going through a lot right now, so she's going to be worse than usual. Sorry, but it's true." Alan was amazed by his son's insight, but they still didn't cover everything.

"Thank you, but that still doesn't tell me how to deal with her." When Don didn't respond to that, Alan started to get irritated. "OK, look I know you know how I can deal with this, so just tell me! I'm not going to let her get away with the skipping school, the fights, the smoking, the staying out all night, and the coming home drunk. Now, if you're not going to help me, fine," Alan said, and got up to leave. Don sighed.

"Dad, wait." Alan turned around, waiting for Don to continue. "Look, she's always going to get in fights, she usually doesn't skip school that much, if you don't believe me just look at her grades. She keeps her cigarettes in her backpack, and other than counting the beers in the fridge I don't know what to tell you about the drinking because she keeps moving her fake ID's so nobody finds them," Don told him, surprising Alan with the fact that he already seemed to know about it. "Now, she probably won't stay out all night anymore because Mike is leaving today, which is probably why she's been in such a bad mood lately. He's being deployed for two years, so they were trying to spend as much time together as they could before he left." Alan looked stunned.

"How do you know all this?," Alan wondered.

"I know Ande. And we talk, dad. What do you think she comes up here for all the time?"

"Why would she talk to you and not to me? Huh? I'm not the one who abandoned her!," Alan spat back. He was getting aggravated that Ande would tell Don all of this when she barely said anything to him outside of an argument.

"I think she probably feels like you are trying to be her father when you're not. Besides, do you know how long it took before she finally started talking to me? And I didn't abandon her! She knows that." Don was trying not to get angry, but it wasn't working very well.

"Fine...and thanks," Alan said, and left.

"Do you want me to come with you?," Alex offered as Ande was getting ready to leave school to go say goodbye to Mike.

"No thanks, I'll be fine," she told him. "Besides, one of us has gotta make good grades," she joked. He smiled.

"Fair enough. So when will you be back at the house?," he asked.

"I'm not sure." She saw his face, then said, "Don't worry. I'll be back before midnight." She smiled, and he smiled back. "See ya later, bro!," she said, patting his shoulder as she walked away.

"See ya!," he called after her.

Mike was hugging Ande while they were waiting for his bus. She looked up at him as they saw the bus pulling up.

"I'm gonna miss you," she told him. He held her face in his hands.

"I'm gonna miss you too. I'll be back, though," he said, trying to reassure her.

"You don't know that," she stated bluntly.

"Hey, whatever happens, you aren't alone, understand?" He looked her in the eye. She nodded back, smiling. "Be good."

"Be careful."

"See ya!," he said, pulling her closer.

"See ya!," she said, kissing him.

They all loaded on the bus. Ande waved, and watched as it pulled away. Her phone rang as the bus pulled out of sight.

"Hello?," she answered. "Hey Colby...No, I'm not at the house...I don't know. Can you give me another day to think about it? Things are kinda hectic today...OK, see ya tomorrow then...Bye." She hung up, and started back.

Back at the craftsman Alex was watching Charlie work on some equation in the garage. Charlie seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that Alex was standing right behind him. When Alex cleared his throat, Charlie jumped, startled that someone was watching him. He calmed down when he saw it was Alex.

"Hey Alex, what's up?," he asked casually.

"Can I ask you something?" Alex seemed nervous.

"Sure. Ask me whatever you want," Charlie told him, curious as to what it was.

"Why do you keep working on this same problem over and over again?" This made Charlie immediately uneasy, he hadn't realized Alex would notice.

"You noticed that, huh?" Charlie was hoping neither Alex or Ande noticed. In a weird way, he'd been trying to protect them.

"Yeah, I just don't understand why you keep reworking the problem when you obviously got it right. What's wrong with the answer you keep getting?" When Charlie didn't respond, Alex connected the dots. "Oh."

"Look I kn-," Charlie started before Alex cut him off.

"Don't worry about it," Alex told him. He understood why his uncle hadn't shared this information, and he also understood why Charlie kept reworking it. "You're hoping you made a mistake, that maybe your brother didn't kill that guy after all." Charlie just nodded. "I get it. I'd been hoping the same thing." Charlie looked up, noticing the past tense.

"What do you mean you'd 'been' hoping the same thing? What changed?," Charlie was trying to mask his curiosity with concern.

"Just the way he said some stuff, and something Ande said."

"What did Ande say?," Charlie asked, starting to put it together. Seeing Alex's eyes start darting everywhere, Charlie moved on. "What do you think happened then?"

Before Alex could answer Alan came in and told them dinner was ready. On their way inside they noticed Ande was already back. Dinner was very quiet. Alan was trying to figure out how to use the information Don had given him, knowing that if Mike had left today that Ande would definitely not be in the mood to talk. Charlie, on the other hand was trying to figure out what Alex had meant, and why Alex had come to talk to him about it. Alex was trying to figure out what was going on, and trying to figure out what was different about Ande, he knew it wasn't just that Mike had left today. Ande was trying to figure out whether or not to help Colby, and how to tell her brother what was wrong, knowing he knew something was off with her. All of them ate dinner in silence, all trying to figure things out, and then they all drifted off to do one thing or another.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Hey what's up with you? You've just been sitting in here all day?," Alex asked, seeing Ande was still sitting on the bed, like she had been since breakfast. "You seriously can't be this upset that Mike's gone."

"No, that's not it," she told him, still staring out the window, not really looking at anything in particular.

"Then what is it? I've never seen you act like this before." Alex came over and joined Ande on the bed.

"I...I think...uh...that-," she started, but was frustrated with herself. "Oh just forget it!"

"Ande, seriously what's wrong? You're starting to scare me a little here," Alex told her, eyes full of concern. She looked away, but he forced her to look him in the eye. "Ande, just tell me." She stared at him for a minute, eyes full of emotion.

"I might be pregnant," she told him bluntly. His jaw dropped. He stuttered for a few minutes, trying to find words.

"You're...uh...are you sure?"

"I don't know. It's just a possibility." She was trying to downplay it, but he could tell she was worried.

"Well, have you...you know?"

"No, I haven't taken the test yet." She rolled her eyes at her brother's unwillingness to say it.

"Well, don't you think you should?," he asked sarcastically.

"Alex, I'm scared, OK? I didn't tell Mike, I haven't told anyone, but you," she retorted. Alex just stared at his sister, he hadn't seen her this scared in a long time. She sighed. "Look, Alex I'm sorry." She grabbed her brothers hands. "But you have to see this from my point of view. Do you understand what it would mean if the test was positive?" Alex stared into her eyes, trying to understand.

"No, I get it. I just think you should go on and take it," he said bluntly.

The next day at CalSci, Charlie and Amita were working on a joint lecture and decided to break for lunch. Amita thought Charlie had been acting strange all day, but he finally told her why.

"So is there something you wanted to tell me?," he asked her, trying to act casually.

"Not that I know of. Why?," she responded, not sure where this was going. He was still acting weird.

"I dunno, I just thought maybe you had something you'd like to share." He was acting really weird, especially since he was trying to act normal.

"Charlie, I really don't know what you're talking about," she told him. He sighed, knowing he'd have to say it.

"OK, well I saw the box when I took out the trash last night. I just kinda figured you would've told me," he said sheepishly. Amita was still confused.

"What box?," she asked normally.

"The pregnancy test." He was surprised she hadn't figured out what he was talking about already. "You know you could've told me before. I mean it's not like I'm gonna mind or anything, I just wish you felt like you could tell me." Amita figured it out.

"Oh, Charlie, I'm not pregnant."

"Oh." He felt kind of silly now. "I just saw the-"

"No, Charlie...uh... well, I thought maybe, but I wasn't. I didn't want to tell you unless I knew for sure," Amita recovered quickly.

"Oh OK. Well, just so you know, I wouldn't have been that against it," he said smiling. She smiled back, and kissed him lightly.

"I know. And thank you." She hugged him tightly. "What about some lunch?," she offered, changing the subject back.

Alex was helping Alan and Charlie set the table. Ande was upstairs finishing up some homework when Amita came in.

"Hey Ande."

"Oh hey Amita," Ande replied.

"Can we talk?," Amita asked, sitting down to join Ande.

"About what?"

"Are you pregnant?," Amita asked straightforward. Ande looked up, stunned.

"What? Why would you-," Ande was starting to talk faster, a sign she was nervous.

"Charlie found the box." Amita was looking Ande straight in the eye.

"Wh-"

"Don't worry," Amita told her, holding up her hand so Ande would let her finish. "He thought it was mine, and I didn't tell him it wasn't." Ande was confused.

"Why? Why would you lie to him?," Ande asked bluntly.

"Well, because if you are then he'll find out soon enough, and if you're not then he doesn't need to know." Ande half-smiled.

"Thanks. But I still don't think I understand," she said truthfully.

"Look, I'm not going to tell you what to do here. I just think that things happen. Sometimes when we don't even mean for them to." Amita looked Ande in the eye. "But I do think that whether you are or aren't you should still tell your dad." Ande just looked at her, unsure of how to respond. "Look, no matter what may have happened or what he may or may not have done, he's still your dad." Amita got up and started out the door. "Come on, they probably have dinner ready by now," she said smiling. They both went down to eat.

"Ande, Alex, can you guys come down here?," Alan called before turning back to Colby. "So what's this about, Colby?"

"It'd probably be better if you all heard it at the same time," Colby told him.

When Ande and Alex got downstairs they joined Charlie and Alan on the couch. All nervous about why Colby was there, especially Ande. They sat there, waiting for Colby to tell them what was going on.

"OK, look you guys, I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to spit it out," he started. They looked at each other nervously. "We have reason to believe that Don's being targeted by the mob." They all looked confused.

"What are you talking about Colby?," Alan asked.

"Well, the guy he killed was on the mob's hit list." They were still confused. "We think they're going to come after him for doing their dirty work, so to speak."

"Wouldn't that be better for them though? Why would they care who killed the guy?," Charlie wondered.

"In theory, yeah. But, the thing is, the FBI has been trying to get enough dirt on these guys to prosecute them for years. Megan thinks that maybe they figured out that Don wasn't just another dirty cop after all."

"What are you talking about? Are you saying what I think you're saying?," Alex asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Colby looked at Ande before finishing. "We have reason to believe that Don's working undercover." Everyone but Ande stared at each other in shock. Colby continued, "The thing is though, we can't prove it without the file, and since no one but those involved or the ones that started it can look at it, we don't have any proof."

"Well, how can you prove it? What do you need?," Charlie asked eagerly.

"We need the file. Our best bet would be Don's copy." Colby told Charlie, staring at Ande again. They all noticed, and stared too. She stayed silent.

"You knew? All along you knew?," Alan asked, standing up, still shocked. Charlie and Alex stared at each other, Charlie knew what Alex had meant now.

"Yeah. I knew," Ande said, still sitting, showing no change in emotion.

"Why the hell didn't you tell anyone?," Alan asked bluntly, angry that he hadn't been mad at his son for nothing.

"Because I wasn't suppose to know!," she spat, standing. "I wasn't suppose to know, OK? So I pretended I didn't. I didn't like it! I hated it! But he promised me it would be over soon." She was starting to calm down a little.

"Do you know where he put the file?," Colby asked her calmly.

"He burned it. He was told to burn it," she said. Then she went upstairs without another word.

"OK, so what now? What do we do?," Alan asked Colby.

"Without the file we don't have any proof, so no one's going to believe us. Megan's trying to convince someone higher up to give it to us, but she hasn't had much luck yet." Ande came back down as Colby finished.

"Here," she said simply, handing Colby a flash drive.

"What-," Colby started, but she interrupted.

"It's the file." They all stared at her, utterly confused. "I said he burned it, I never said he didn't make a copy first," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, smiling.

Dinner that night was different than it had been for a couple months. They all actually had a real conversation. It seemed like not having to keep the secret, that was tearing them apart, opened them up to having a normal conversation, sort of. It wasn't back to normal, but it was close.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ande and Alex were bickering over where they were going after school. Charlie had said they could come by CalSci anytime, but they didn't feel like hearing a bunch of math gibberish. They also didn't want to go back to the craftsman, where Alan was no doubt still feeling guilty for believing the charges against Don. They continued this throughout the day, in between classes, and then on their way outside. They turned to walk down the sidewalk toward the bus stop.

"Where ya headed?" The familiar voice made them stop dead in their tracks. With wide eyes they turned to see him.

"I don't believe it," Alex muttered as he ran over to hug Don. "I didn't think it'd happen this quick. I thought you were still undercover or something. What made them change their minds? Or did they change their minds? Well, what happened?" Alex was starting to talk a mile a minute, obviously nervous and excited at the same time.

"Whoa, slow down a second," Don said, trying to calm Alex down enough so he'd actually be able to understand what he was saying. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about it later," he told him, embracing his son again. Don knew he was going to miss them before, but now everything seemed magnified.

"So when do you go back to work?," Ande asked, finally reaching her brother and father after walking over slowly. Don released Alex before turning to look her in the eyes.

"Not till tomorrow," he told her. She smiled, walking over to give him a hug, which he returned with a bigger one.

"Are you gonna leave again?," she asked, not looking up, and not letting go.

"No," he sighed. "I'm not going anywhere."

When she finally let go, Don wrapped an arm around both of them as they headed to the car.

That night at dinner things were a little weird. Don was trying to pretend things were normal. He wanted things to be normal. Everyone else was trying to accommodate that, but without much success. Things were very awkward. Alan was borderline overcompensating for not being supportive, which Don kept trying to tell him to not worry about it, that he understood. Charlie was pretty good about acting normal, he was busy filling Don in on everything he might've missed. Ande and Alex were busy packing up their stuff to take back to the apartment.

"Oh, and guess what," Charlie was saying to Don, out of ear reach of everyone else.

"What?," Don encouraged, thankful his brother was complying with his wish for things to go back to normal.

"Amita had a little scare," Charlie told his big brother, thankful to have him back.

"What kind?" Charlie gave him a look that answered his question. "Oh... that kind. So...is she?"

Ande and Amita, who was helping the twins pack, passed and overheard the conversation. The two shared a look, then continued as if they hadn't heard. Charlie didn't realize they had, Don noticed though.

"No, she's not."

"Well, that's good I guess," Don replied. "Isn't it?" He saw the look on Charlie's face.

"Yeah, but seeing you and Ande and Alex...I dunno, it might be nice." They both smiled. Don knew being around the twins had made Charlie want kids, or at least think about it more. Don liked being a dad, but he still regretted not being there while they were growing up.

The next couple of days were more of a readjustment than anything. With Don's help, the US attorney had been able to get enough evidence to prosecute several high level mob bosses. After that, Don was just trying to get back into the semi-normal routine of work and home. Ande and Alex were really happy to see things getting back to the way they had been. Everything seemed to be falling back into place.

"Hey," Don said as he came into the twins' room. Alex was in the shower, Ande was finishing homework. She looked up when she heard him.

"Hey."

"So, how's school?," he asked casually.

"Seriously?," she asked sarcastically, raising her eyebrows. "That's the best small talk you can come up with? Why don't you just cut to the chase and say what you wanna say?"

"OK, fair enough," he said, half-smiling, but then turning serious. He sat down on Alex's bed and took a deep breath before continuing. "The other night after dinner, when Charlie was telling me... Well, you know. It was yours wasn't it?" She looked up, but not at him, trying to act casual.

"What was mine?," she asked, knowing what he was talking about, but trying not to show it.

"The pregnancy test. It wasn't Amita's was it? She was just covering for you, that's why you two looked at each other like that. It was yours wasn't it?" When Ande didn't answer, he continued. "Look, I know this is kind of a touchy subject, and I wouldn't be bringing it up unless I thought I had to. I mean you know that even if-"

"I know," she interrupted, finally looking up at him. They sat in silence for a few minutes before he finally got up to leave.

"Hey," Ande said right before he reached the door.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not." Don looked relieved. "The test was negative. I'm not pregnant." They both smiled.

"Oh, thank God!," Don sighed in relief.

"Tell me about it," Ande agreed. They both laughed. When he turned to leave, she stopped him again. "Hey, by any chance are you the one who's responsible for my missing stuff?," she questioned.

"What missing stuff?," Don replied in a normal tone. "The cigarettes?" He raised his eyebrows.

"So, that's a yes?" They just stared at each other. Ande finally broke the silence. "How'd you know?" A mischievous look crossed Don's face, and he smiled.

"You're not as good at hiding stuff from me as you think you are." He left. She felt a little worried, hoping that some things he'd never have to know.


	6. Author's Note

Hey guys! OK, yes I'm finally finished with the sequel to 'So... Where Do We Go From Here?'. But I decided to make it a series. I'll have the updates in the summary of both 'So... Where Do We Go From Here?' and 'Falling Apart' and 'Falling Apart: Secrets'.

The next in the series is called:

The Things We Keep Hidden...

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


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